Abstract
This study examines global public opinion following major incidents of domestic repression by the Chinese government, with particular attention to the relevance of China's foreign aid. Using data from the Gallup World Poll (over 26,000 respondents in 43 countries), we compare respondents surveyed immediately before and after four widely publicized repression events to estimate short-term shifts in approval of the job performance of China's leadership. We also analyze sentiment in over 44,000 local-language news articles that mentioned China and were published around the time of these events. We find that negative reactions to repression are substantially muted, and in some cases reversed, in countries that receive Chinese foreign aid. Media coverage in these countries becomes more positive following incidents of repression, often emphasizing China's economic contributions. These findings suggest that economic ties and media coverage condition how politically salient events shape international public opinion about China.
Citation
Hong, Ji Yeon, and Yusaku Horiuchi. n.d. “Muted Backlash: Chinese Repression, Media Coverage, and Global Public Opinion.” Working paper. https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=4289132